Lawyers say video of a transgender immigrant who died in ICE custody may have been deleted

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 0111 GMT (0911 HKT) October 25, 2019

(CNN) — Surveillance video of a transgender immigrant who died in ICE custody may have been deleted while investigations into her death were ongoing, lawyers representing her family said Wednesday. The company that runs the facility says their cameras automatically overwrote the video.

The attorneys said the footage could be key evidence revealing the events leading up to the death of Roxsana Hernandez, a 33-year-old from Honduras who died May 25, 2018, in New Mexico from AIDS complications.

The death of Hernandez, who'd come to the United States in a group of transgender migrants who were part of a caravan last year, drew widespread attention and sparked accusations from advocates that she hadn't received adequate medical care while in US custody beginning May 9, 2018. ICE officials said Hernandez wasn't in their custody long enough to assess the situation and begin proper treatment.

Wednesday, the Transgender Law Center and attorney Andrew Free released an email exchange between officials that indicates surveillance footage was not preserved from inside the Cibola County Correctional Center, a privately run ICE detention facility where Hernandez was held for less than a day before she was hospitalized.

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